Medical Marijuana News

The Tennessee NORML blog is doing a series of articles in which we share the personal stories of real Tennesseans in need of a medical cannabis program. This is Kim’s story:

I am the 48 year old mother of 8 wonderful kids, and I also have 5 awesome grandchildren and one precious great granddaughter.

I worked as a nurse from 1993 all the way up until I was deemed legally disabled in 2012 due to back issues. You see, I was born with idiopathic scoliosis, which over time caused the failure of several discs in my back. It also causes extremely painful degeneration of my vertebrae, serious nerve compression and crippling headaches. Last year, the severity in the degree of my spinal curvature started to affect my breathing and other body functions.
I have also had problems with multiple joint failures, which leads me to believe that I may have… Continue reading →

A December, 2016 Vanderbilt poll showed that 75% (7.5 out of 10) of Tennessee citizens believed that medical cannabis should be legal, which is apparently right on par with the rest of the nation.

An April, 2017 poll showed that 8 in 10 Americans now think cannabis should be legal for medical use. Nearly half — 49% — approve of smoking it for recreational​ purposes, according to the new poll commissioned by Yahoo! News and performed by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

The survey asked a representative sample of 1,122 adults nationwide via phones. It posed a series of questions about people’s feelings and perceptions about cannabis, a plant that has increasingly gained public acceptance.

While the Americans surveyed mostly supported use of medical cannabis, 69% said they didn’t think pregnant women should partake.

70% said they believe cannabis is less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes.

One of the most used propaganda-points for the prohibitionist crowd is the comparison of cannabis to opioids. While we know that synthetic heroin and naturally grown cannabis aren’t even in the same ballpark, opponents of marijuana legalization have continually stressed the gateway theory by claiming that increased availability of cannabis will lead to higher rates of opioid abuse.

According to Reuters and a new study from the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, those theories have even less merit than we originally thought, as it turns out that in states with medical marijuana programs, hospitalization rates for opioid painkiller abuse have gone down a whopping 23%. In the same states, hospitals have seen opioid overdoses drop an average of 13%.
The numbers have given hope to medical professionals dedicated to slowing the country’s opioid obsession.

DENVER – Brandon Coats knew he was going to fail his drug test. Paralyzed in a car crash when he was 16, he had been using medical marijuana since 2009 to relieve the painful spasms that jolted his body. But he smoked mostly at night, and said marijuana had never hurt his performance answering customer calls for a Colorado satellite-television provider.

So when his employer, Dish Network, asked Mr. Coats to take a random drug screen, he was not surprised when the test came back positive for marijuana. He told his bosses why, but when he got to work the following week, he said, “my card wouldn’t open up the door.” He was fired for violating the company’s drug-free workplace rules, despite having a medical marijuana card.
“There are a lot of people out there who… Continue reading →

Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states in 2014 enacted legislation that promised to provide patients, particularly those suffering from intractable epilepsy, the opportunity to use cannabidiol (CBD) – a nonpsychotropic plant cannabinoid recognized for its anti-convulsant properties. The problem? So far, patients in none of these states possess the ability to legally access the compound. And there is no indication that this situation is going to change any time soon.

That is because CBD remains classified as a schedule I prohibited substance under federal law. (Congressional legislation, HR 5226, to amend CBD’s status was introduced in July.) As a result, multiple federal agencies — including the FDA, DEA, NIDA (US National Institute… Continue reading →

DENVER Every time he goes to work, Harvard-trained lawyer Andrew Freedman faces federal prosecution over the source of his paycheck: Colorado’s burgeoning marijuana industry.

Freedman, the governor’s chief marijuana adviser, faces prison time if federal prosecutors decide to step in. That’s because federal law still considers marijuana as dangerous as heroin or cocaine, and prosecutors could easily bring drugtrafficking charges if they choose. Freedman’s salary is paid by the taxes collected on legal marijuana sales.

“I’m in murky territory every day,” Freedman said.

Tens of thousands of marijuana growers, bud tenders, edibles makers, store owners and couriers working in Colorado and Washington and any of the other 21 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized recreational or medical marijuana face the same penalties.

The risk is even greater for dozens of former cops and soldiers working… Continue reading →

THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana, lingers in the blood. Getty Images

When Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell was pulled over in Western Pennsylvania for smelling like marijuana, he didn’t know about Pennsylvania’s strict DUID law.

Bell was driving a Camaro with passenger and teammate LeGarrette Blount. The car had a 22-gram bag of cannabis in the glove box.

According to the police report, Bell told the motorcycle cop:

“I didn’t know that you could get a DUI for being high. I smoked two hours ago. I am not high anymore. I am perfectly fine.”

Surprise. In the Keystone State any amount of marijuana metabolites in your system is enough to charge you with “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs.” That means a joint you smoked smoked last month could turn into a criminal proceeding.

After his Ross Township traffic stop, Bell was sent to hospital to have his… Continue reading →